Improvement in corrugated beams



UNITEn STATES PATENT Graine.

SAMUEL J. SEELY, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

IMPROVEMENT IN CORRUGATED BEAMS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 42,692, dated May 10,i864.

To all whom it may concern Bc it known that I, SAMUEL J. SEELY, of thecity and county and State ot New York, have invented certain new anduseful Improvements in Corrugated Beams; and I do hereby declare thefollowing to be a full, clear, and exact description thereof, referencebeing had to the annexed drawings, making part of this speeilication,and to the letters and figures of reference marked thereon.

Figure 1 represents a side elevation of the truss-beam resting oncolumnar supports. Fig. 2 represents alhorizontal section through thesame, midway between the top and bottom lines of the truss. Fig. 3represents a cross-section of the same, enlarged.

The nature of my invention consists in the formation of a truss-beam bythe combination of two or more sheets of corrugated iron, havingcorrugations diagonal to the line of the chord, so attached togetherthat the line of corrugation of each shall be at right angles, or nearlyso, to the other and connected with a chord or tie of wrought-iron orother suitable metallic substance.

To enable others skilled in the art to which my invention appertains tomake and use the same, I will proceed to describe its construction andoperation.

I take two sheets or plates of wrought or malleable iron,A A', or othersimilar metallic substance, having corrugations running across them in adiagonal direction at a quarter or less inclination with the horizonaccording to circumstances. The length of these sheets is the length ofthe trussbeam, and the width the height, or nearly so, of thetruss-beam. I take two pieces of T-iron, B B, the length of the intendedbeam, and place one in the position B, and place the other in theposition B. The horizontal surface ot' one constitutes the bottom oi thebeam, and the horizontal surface of the other constitutes the top of thebeam. The interval between the extremities of the upright portions oftheangle-iron is filled by a strip of wrought or malleable iron, or othersuitable metallic substance of the same thickness as that ot' theuprights of the angle-iron. The corrugated plates are attached by rivetsor bolts to the angle irons, and to the strip iilling the intervalbetween them, so as to form the exterior truss-beam. rIhe corrugationsof the plates on opposite sides ofthe truss cross each other at rightangles, when the corrugations stand at an angle ot' forty-tive degrees.rIhe angle at which the corrugations should stand to a horizontal linewill be varied according to circumstances, but when that angle isgreater or less than forty-tve degrees the corrugations on oppositesides of the truss will stand atan angle to each other differing from aright angle.

.'Ihe construction ot' the truss-beam may be varied without changing theessential principle-on which it acts, so long as there are two or moresheets having transverse corrugations inclinng in opposite directions,combined with a chord or tie, in same form.

The upper angle-iron may be replaced by a tube of cast or wrought iron,or any equivalent device for resisting the tendency to con1- pressionalong its line.

The plates separating the corrugated sides may be replaced by one ormore sheets having longitudinal eorrugations. The lower angle-iron maybe replaced by a tube of wroughtiron or by a rod or equivalent device.So the sheet between the corrugated plates may be emitted and thedevices intended to resist the tendency to elongate along the bottomline, and to compression along the upper line, may be attached to thecorrugated sheets above and beneath or outside of them.

Inpractical use varied circumstances will call for adaptationsrequiringa resort to one or the other ot' the methods of arrangementabovel indicated; but that form which I iind best adapted for thegenerality of cases is the one indicated in the accompanying plan.

The truss-beam I have described may be used for a variety of purposes.It may be employed on buildings, bridges, docks, aqueducts, and similarworks, where considerable weights are to be supported on abutments,piers, columns, or other separated points of support. It may be employedas a girder and as a beam to support roofs and floorings. It may beincorporated in vthe walls of buildings, the hulls of vessels, theframes of cars, and in different places in a variety of other structureswhere stiiiness and ability to resist pressure and tension are sought incombination with lightness.

The advantages resulting from the form of construction above indicatedarise from the peculiary disposition that is made of the tubularcorrugations. Inasmuch as they cross at right angles, or at an angle ofinclination approaching ninety degrees, the position of greateststrength of the one coincides with the position of greatest elasticityof the otherthat' is to say7 the strain that would spread or contractthe base of one corrugation is resisted by the complementary corrugationof the opposite side of the truss operating as it must in that case on aline With the length of the latter corrugation in the condition mostfavorable for resistance. The power required to stretch corrugated ironin a direction trans verse to the line of corrugation, increases as thecorrugation widens at its base. Thus a corrugated truss nnder'asufficient pressure to change the form of the corrugations develops anincrease of strength as it yields to the strain, and is therefore likelyto find its equilibrium-and to return to it-s proper form on removingthe strain.

What I claim as my invention7 and desire to secure by Letters Patent,is-

1. The combination of two or more corrugated metallic plates having theinclination of their corrugations on opposite sides, in oppositedirections, and diagonal relatively to a horizontal line, with a chordor tie, for the purpose of forming a truss beam or girder or othersimilar structure.

2. The use of T or angle iron of any other suitable form, in combinationwith diagonal corrugations, for the purpose of forming a truss-beam orgirder, or their equivalent, constructed and operating in the manner andfor the purpose above described.

SAML. J. SEELY.

Witnesses:

L. B. VALK, A. J.- WILLARD.

